 Deepak Chopra writes in the “7 Spiritual laws of Success” that “good luck is preparedness meeting opportunity.” On this eve of luck, I am filled with the hope that he’s right. You may have heard that it’s good luck to say “Rabbit Rabbit” the first day of every month ( see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit). Well, this being the eve of September 1, I am reminded to set a tickler for myself. You see, the trick is it must be the FIRST thing that’s spoken in the morning and the spell won’t work if you speak first and then utter the magical phrase. The trick is always to remember to say it first thing, before you say ” good morning” to your sweetie or chat with the dog or the cat.
Most of my friends that know me, know that I am a very planful, prepared person. Most of what I have accomplished in my life has come from lots of planning. Whether or not luck had anything to do with it is really anyone’s guess; in my mind, it’s mostly been the result of thoughtful planning and just lots of hard work. But there’s a mystical, magical quality around the idea of luck. It speaks to the idea of chance or that things may not be totally within our control. We always hope that in that, lies the seeds of magic and possibility for things that we might otherwise not get without a little help from the universe.
I can remember when I was little, I would walk up to the corner mall after school. Whatever the latest craze was in terms of a kid’s toy, I always wished that when I approached the corner mall and turned the corner, “BAM!” there’d be the object of my desire. Ok, truth be told maybe that was a bit more “Bewitched” than Chopra but I can say that in the end, it was only planning to save my chore money that got me the object of my desire, not closing my eyes and nodding my head.
As I’ve gotten older, I ‘ve learned to appreciate that there are a lot of things in our lives that are out of our control. Good things happen, bad things happen, sometimes there’s no apparent rhyme or reason for them. But that’ s no reason to stop being mindful or planful. But it does speak to having an appreciation for powers that are outside of us, beyond comprehension, beyond logic and pragmatic thinking. It seems that the older I get, the more I appreciate and almost depend on this being a critical part of the mix.
So, on this night before the first, I’ll put my post-it note on my clock so the first thing I see is the reminder to utter the magical phrase. I don’t think I’ll worry about stepping on a sidewalk crack though and I’ll still make my list of things to do for the week.
Namaste and good luck!